Search This Blog

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The plot and story of Starz new show The Girlfriend Experience, loosely based off Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film of the same name, seems cliche. A young 20-something law student struggles to pay her bills so she turns into a high-end escort to pay the bills. However, Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan tell this story in such an interesting and slick way, that you won't be able to stop yourself from binge watching all 13 episodes, all of which are now available.

The show is cold and distant, like its lead Christine Reade (played spectacularly by Riley Keough- the daughter of Lisa Marie Presely and the granddaughter to The King himself) which in turn makes its voyeuristic tendencies hauntingly beautiful.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

There was always something off about Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. After all, the show is set in an off-kilter, goofy version of New York City about a kidnap victim finally living on her own after being trapped in an underground bunker for 15 years. But for some reason, that extremely dark concept worked in Season 1 of the Netflix comedy created by 30 Rock alums Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. Yet, there is something off about Season 2 that just is not clicking the same way Season 1 did.

The entirety of Season 2 dropped recently and I have seen the first 7 episodes. While the episodes have gotten better as the show has gone along, the first half of the season has been underwhelming.

Season 2 of Kimmy Schmidt essentially takes place right where Season 1 left off (I say essentially because the very first scene of episode one is a flash forward). Kimmy (played perfectly by Office and Bridesmaids alum Ellie Kemper) is still living with Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), hanging out with her landlord Lillian (Carol King) and helping out her former boss, now going by Ms. White (played by 30 Rock alum Jane Krakowski) whose maiden surname was given to her Native American family back in the day as a joke by a sarcastic census taker.